Winter riding - Do studded tires make riding safer and how about my LiFePO4 battery?

Howdy good folks.

I'm a new proud owner of an ebike that I put together. Been riding for 6 months now, and now it's winter Canada. What are your thoughts about winter riding? I know there are many sites out there about this topic, but I really would like first hand experience from you out there .

Tell me what works and what doesn't. What tire should i get, if any, or should I just park my bike for the winter.

Is it recommended I take my bike in such weather (tires, safety) and will my LiFePO4 battery be able to handle Canadian winters (goes down as low as -20 Celcius here) or will the cold conditions kill my battery sooner.

Just remember, I'm balding and I got a mustache.. what does that have go anything to do with this? Nothing really, but I thought you'ld like to know

winter riding on an electric bike is fine, so long as you are not taking your battery, and leaving it outside while it is not being used. as for winter tires, they can make a huge difference in winter riding, in conditions that are really icy, they wont do as much on alot of really powdery snow though, and they will not have much to grip. for more info on winter tires, you might want to check out the threads in winter riding. so long as you are taking good care of your battery and not letting it freeze. it is fine.

Tell me what works and what doesn't. What tire should i get, if any, or should I just park my bike for the winter.

Is it recommended I take my bike in such weather (tires, safety) and will my LiFePO4 battery be able to handle Canadian winters (goes down as low as -20 Celcius here) or will the cold conditions kill my battery sooner.

Originally Posted by raevyn

as for winter tires, they can make a huge difference in winter riding, in conditions that are really icy, they wont do as much on alot of really powdery snow though, and they will not have much to grip.

I leave my trike with DeWalt LiFePo4's in the shed all winter, hasn't seemed to affect them much, but then it doesn't get much under single digits here.

I ride my TidalForce electric bike all winter, through snow and ice, with my Serfas Drifter baldies, without any trouble, although studs would probably be nice. Lbs/sguare inches of rubber contact with icy surface is probably higher than any car.

And I vote we elevate Raevyn from Token Cutie.....to Token Hottie, here on BF.

For studded tires, there are quite a few that are sometimes available. Schwalbe Ice spikers are probably going to be your more aggressive tire. there is also the marathon winters, which have less tred and roll a bit better compared to the ice spiker. they are really hard to get though. the schwalbe snow stud will be your most basic one and you wont find as many studs on it.
Nokian also sells some decent tires as well. The mount and ground "W" is a good one. you can always mismatch the tires you get, but you will want to put the more aggressive one on the front, due to the fact that if your front tire slips, you are hooped, where as if the rear one slips, you will most likely only fishtail a bit.

The Innova's are the cheapest and work decent enough. The beauty of studded tires is it takes about 4 bikes to wear them out. I wish I had a set for my bike right now but this snow will be gone in a few weeks and in the meantime I am skiing all over town instead.

The Innova's are the cheapest and work decent enough. The beauty of studded tires is it takes about 4 bikes to wear them out.

Riding on concrete will wear out studs quickly. The steel simply grinds away since concrete is harder. Carbide last considerably longer, but small pieces occasionally crack off due to carbide inherently brittleness. Asphalt is far gentler on studs, and you they should last forever on ice. I can't comment on stud life on an ebike, but my unicycle's winter tire definitely shows stud wear with maybe 50-100 miles on it.

If I got the facts straight, Innova tires use steel studs and you should expect a relatively short life (though the studs appear to be user replaceable). Nokian and Schwalbe both use carbide studs.

Any decent studded tire will get you past the occasional patch of black ice as long as you are reasonably careful. Avoiding cars should be your biggest worry, and tires will only help a little. As for deep snow, there seem to be two schools of though: Some riders believe thin tires cut through snow more easily; the other believes big low pressure tires provide flotation to ride over it. Personally, I'll take traction from massive knobbies when the snow gets thick.

Not to sound all cager, but driving carefully in a car with an airbag might be safer overall.
That, or get off the bike when it is really snowy or icy and walk safely on the sidewalk, keeping your head up watching for traffic and other hazards, or ride in a bus, or other public transportation. Because, if you are talking about your daughters, saving the environment can wait a few months on one father.

I'm a new proud owner of an ebike that I put together. Been riding for 6 months now, and now it's winter Canada. What are your thoughts about winter riding? I know there are many sites out there about this topic, but I really would like first hand experience from you out there .

Tell me what works and what doesn't. What tire should i get, if any, or should I just park my bike for the winter. ...

I have no clue about what the cold does to batteries, but I have used the tires. I had a non-motorized MTB with what I think was Nokian tires a few years back.

The studded tires allow you to ride just fine, in MOST winter conditions... If you ride moderately, keep your speed reasonable and take turns cautiously, you shouldn't have much problems.

You can ride normally on soft, powdery snow (the tires will sink down to harder-packed snow).
You can ride on hard-packed snow.
You can ride on ice, and even on wet ice, probably easier than you can walk on wet ice with normal rubber-sole shoes on.

The one time that the studded tires don't help much is if you are riding on-road, but the hard-packed thin layer of snow is breaking up from cars rolling over it. Your bicycle is not heavy enough to break through the loose pieces of snow/ice, but the pieces will shift and slide as you are rolling over them. So if you ride on-road, don't ride in the cars' tire tracks. Try to ride in the fresh snow instead.
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Mostly it is about how long you actually have the studs mounted on your bike each winter and how many miles you will rack up a year on them. I had a set of Nokians in CO on my fixed gear that looked like new after 8 long winters. I doubt the steel studs on the Innovas would have worn out either, because riding studs on concrete and pavement is not what I was doing. It was mainly on hardpacked snow and ice. I would get the Innovas just because they are cheaper and could buy 2 sets to one of the Nokians or Schwalbes. But a set of Snowcat rims and some Surly Endomorph tires would serve both sand and snow so that is my goal eventually.

I just rode my MAB around tonight and had great traction on granular snowy streets here by lowering the tire pressures front and rear to 20 psi. The worst of it was in broken mostly unpacked snow in a parking lot I went in to for a test pit. I had much better luck on the streets and even up some pretty good hills. It definitely helped to be pedaling though to gauge how much power to apply.

i'm installing them today and riding next week .. will let yous know how they perform commuting on the road, mainly clear road, sometimes plowed, and more than liekely black-iced half the time all the time (as some statisticians like to put it, "are accurate to within plus or minus 3%, 19 times out of 20. ...") .. now what the h*** is that supposed to mean!!

but back to the tires, yeah.. i'll give them a try .. i just miss my bike so much

... after installing the tires, one of them had a side bulge, and noooooo the bulge isn't due to the tube within, i even replaced the tube and same problem. when i took off the tire and ran my finger from within, where the bulge was, i detected a weakness in the tire wall; conclusion defective tire